


Making the world anew

by Midknite



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Canon Universe, M/M, Reunions, Slice of Life, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-05-20 21:23:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14902274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midknite/pseuds/Midknite
Summary: Hakuryuu finds Judar in a far East plain village. In it, they will rebuild the bond that united them even despite the distance and being four years apart.





	1. Found you

Judar was casting a small and controlled rain over a piece of soil, he was getting the gist of how agriculture worked. He just wished it wasn’t so tedious, he felt fed up with the endless waiting for the land to bare fruit. Judar flew lower, floating over the irrigated ground and grinned at the small shoots peeking from the wet dark earth.

****

Being busy with his new responsibilities as the only magician in the poor village, he didn’t notice something else started to sprout since that morning. He returned that noon to the wooden cabin that had been his home for months. He peeped in the kitchen, finding it empty. He stole one of the newly made yeast buns from the steamer basket and had a bite. Hot steamed buns was that tiny relaxing pleasure of life, he sighed and dropped on his side on the cushions in his bedroom. It was then when he felt something.

****

His heart jumped instantly, he shoved a hand on his pocket. He had to check, last time he had been excited and found a creeping insect inside his pants. He felt the growing stems, curling around his fingers and took his hand out quickly to look at them. The netsumegusa germinated, healthy and green around his hand, he let out the gasp he was holding in his throat.

****

As quick as a lightning bolt he ran to the door grabbing his staff and jumped to the air, going up, up, looking around the village. He activated instantly his magi eyes, which glowed red as two incandescent lanterns and scanned all the perimeter until a twinkling red light appeared between the bamboo forest. It was a metal vessel.

****

He laughed nervously, trying to wake up if it was a dream. He pinched his arm twice, just to be sure. When he noticed he wasn’t waking up he let himself freefall to the place where someone was looking for him.

****

Hakuryuu had walked for weeks, and even though his tough training prepared his legs to any kind of journey, he was getting somewhat tired. The lands where he was were far, so far that he hadn’t seen any signs of human life for a couple of days. His aching feet didn’t deter him though, he felt his magoi echoing to him, closer than before. It was something very alike echolocation, he called and his seeds replied. He just hoped he was close.

****

Some of the weight of his gear and his portable mattress had been shed and left behind. Scaling the mountainous region with cumbersome equipment had proven to be a threat to fall to his demise in the rocky steep sides of the mountains. He eventually found a dense bamboo forest. He walked parallel to a crystalline stream of fresh water he discovered earlier thanks to the noise of a small cascade. There were white-lipped deer, snowcocks and geese aplenty, so he had the bare necessities for his travel.

****

His ear caught the sound of something traveling quickly on the air and he looked up. Behind the bamboo foliage, farther in the sky, there was something. His breath stopped when he saw Judar, flying fast as an arrow towards him with his arms open.

****

“Hakuryuu!” a familiar voice… the prince felt a hot rush in his veins.

****

“Judar!” He replied, his unconscious reaction was opening his arms as well and just wait for the impact. He could manage fairly well the force of Judar’s velocity clashing against him.

 

Hakuryuu had dropped his gear to the side, just in time to catch the incoming projectile of warmth, landing straight to his chest.

****

The prince just pressed the other between his arms, as hard as he could, his hands squeezing and stroking Judar’s head, shoulders, and back. Judar was _alive_ , he was well and he was there. Where he unquestionably belonged, beside him. Hakuryuu couldn’t handle all the emotion and started to cry, louder than he wanted to.

****

“Hakuryuu, you found me! I searched for you everywhere!” Judar pushed further against the prince’s body - as if he just expected to fuse their bodies and occupy the exact same space as Hakuryuu.

****

“I was in the dark continent, so far away, I couldn’t reach you quickly.” Hakuryuu sobbed.

****

The magi was so busy taking all the experience in, holding Hakuryuu tightly and feeling his presence, that he dismissed quickly the white rukh of his king candidate.

****

“What were you doing in there? I traveled all over the world looking for you.”

****

“I am sorry you had to wait.” Hakuryuu wiped his face with his long sleeve, but he didn’t stop tearing.

****

A few minutes passed and it came to Judar, they have never hugged before. Maybe only as kids, but never as teenagers, and even less as adults. He couldn’t bring himself to care if it was awkward, he just nuzzled Hakuryuu's head with his own, as a clingy cat would do. He even let out an uninhibited soft groan of satisfaction.

****

Hakuryuu did feel somewhat flustered when he noticed the clear sign of affection, but he wasn’t leaving Judar’s arms. At least not in that moment when it sank in that Judar was really there after all those years of yearning. He let out a few short gasps, finally calming his eyes down.

****

Judar pulled away to see Hakuryuu’s red face, he was a mess with his swollen eyes and his wet cheeks, the magi couldn’t stop smiling. “Come, you need to rest.”

****

Hakuryuu nodded, rubbing his eyes with his soaked sleeve. He followed Judar through the path of soft grass, and watched Judar prancing with the happiest expression he had seen him, it evoked an echo of nostalgia that made Hakuryuu’s pace falter. When the magi looked at him and laughed a little, Hakuryuu realized his own face was smiling wider than he had in years as well. It was an alien feeling that he didn’t know he missed until he was grinning back at Judar.

****

The path narrowed at one point and then widened to an enormous field with verdant rolling hills, patched with plowed slots of crops. A small village was standing proudly in the middle of it, the huts were scattered all around the place and the inhabitants were in their habitual tasks.

****

“What is this place?” Hakuryuu asked agape of the simple beauty of the hidden town in the mountains.

****

“My hometown.”

****

“You mean-”

****

A teenager who was carrying a pheasant yelled when she saw them “Uncle Touka!”

****

“Uncle Touka?” the Prince inquired.

****

Hakuryuu stifled the chuckle that was about to escape his lips when he saw - for the first time in his life-  a faint blush on Judar’s face. “Uh… Yeah, Al-Thamen gave me the name Judar.”

****

“I gathered that. It doesn’t suit your face having such a soft name-” Hakuryuu teased and Judar pushed him, scowling and yet still smiling. Hakuryuu thought he looked uncannily soft “-but, uncle?”

****

“Ah, apparently Al Thamen killed my parents and siblings, but the rest of my family still lives. She is the daughter of my cousin Rin Rei. This is my niece, Hayashi. Brat, this is Hakuryuu.”

****

Hakuryuu bowed slightly. “Nice to meet you little Lady Hayashi.”

****

Hayashi smiled wide and bowed profusely. “Welcome to our village King Hakuryuu!”

****

“King?”

****

Judar shouted, calling to the villagers around “Yo! Everyone! This is the greatest of Kou’s emperors! Hakuryuu Ren!”

****

The prince startled, he was not feeling ready to face the consequences of what civil war’s sequels had over the village. He wanted the ground to swallow him in one earthquake bite.

****

Hakuryuu was getting ready to drop on his knees and apologize for everything that happened to Kou for the last years. And, at the same time, trying not to wilt in misery and curl into a ball like a scared pangolin. He was about to take the knee when all the nearby villagers hurried and bowed to him.

****

“Thank you for everything, our rightful emperor!”

****

“You are a hero!”

****

“The one that defeated the traitors of Kou!”

****

Hakuryuu’s jaw dropped and Judar made a proud smile.

****

“Thank you… But I-” Hakuryuu tried to explain.

****

“Is it true that you defeated the evil witch of Al Thamen with your own hands?” A young man rose the voice.

****

“With a sword but-”

****

“Facing four djinn container users and their army with much a less numbered army! Such courage!” Said an old lady.

****

“Y-yes b-”

****

“He spared the world from Al Thamen’s evil! The evil that desolated our dear village so many years ago!” A farmer said and the multitude cheered after him.

****

“Uncle Touka was right! You are the most handsome man ever!” Hayashi added.

****

“What?” Hakuryuu perked up.

****

“Nothing!” Judar grabbed her niece’s shoulders and pushed her softly, “why don’t you go and tell my cousin to help me prepare the table for the king?” Judar crossed his arms, he should have known the brat would just blurt everything he had said.

****

“Yes, uncle Touka!”

****

The villagers kept praising a red Hakuryuu, touching his robes, treating him as some kind of idol and offering the fruits of their lands.

****

A tall, built man bowed before the prince “It will be my honor to help king Hakuryuu with his belongings,” then he smiled kindly. “You must have had a long journey.”

****

“Ah! Thank you. I can take it myself to Juda- Touka’s lodging.”

****

Hakuryuu kept walking, surrounded by the crowd, waving back to the happy villagers who were saluting him with a joy he never saw in the capital of Kou. He recalled with bitterness the fear and mistrust in his vassals' eyes. If only Judar had been there, perhaps the crown wouldn’t have felt so heavy.

****

However, thinking about his present he thought that such an effusive welcome demanded an explanation. “What have you said to these people?”

****

Judar walked beside him, showing him the way to a house near a hill, scarred by tall rice paddies. “The truth of course!”

****

“It doesn’t seem like the truth.” Hakuryuu blew through his nostrils, thinking that he could never keep up with the unreasonable image Judar had of him. If he was to live Judar's expectancies he would have to reach some ‘Sinbad territory’ of overpowered flawlessness. But if such a person had exist already, why Judar had such a tunnel vision of his qualities?

****

Judar held his arm, “you did all those things! Oh! I heard a lot about the war! Tell me everything! What did you do? What were their faces like when they saw our army of puppets? How did you feel when you won?”

****

Hakuryuu stopped walking, looking deeply at the magi’s expectant red eyes. He remembered being joined by the Seven Seas Alliance standing in front of his objective, exhausted, magoi drained and glancing at his side to find Judar’s missing presence yet again. “I felt… Empty.”

****

Judar tilted his head in confusion, he was about to ask but his cousin interrupted.

****

“King Hakuryuu! We are honored to have you in our humble house, please make yourself at home. I am Rin Rei, Touka’s cousin, you’ve met my daughter Hayashi, my husband is still in the fields.”

****

Hakuryuu bowed politely. Rin Rei was a beautiful woman, her smile and the shape of her face were the same as Judar’s. Hakuryuu smiled, wondering if Judar’s face would look like that when he got older. It seemed the attractive of the magi was in part inherited. Hakuryuu coughed a little, sputtering to himself when he realized he was rationalizing Judar’s beauty. “The honor is mine, I am pleased to meet Judar’s family.”

****

The interior was homey, a standard configuration of a peasant household. Judar entered the hall and moved a blackwood screen to widen the room. Over the fireplace, there was a three-legged pot that impregnated the air with a delicious aroma of comforting stew.

****

A very old weaver sat in front of a wooden small sized machine, passing her wrinkled hands through the thread of hemp and foot moving rhythmically over the creaky pedal.

****

Judar stood behind her proudly. “Hakuryuu, this is grandmother. She is a bit blind, but she enjoys the feel of her loom still, isn’t that right grandma?”

****

“King Hakuryuu is here?” The small white head moved attentively, slowly as if she had all the time in the world.

****

“I am.” Hakuryuu knelt next to the lady. “I am honored to meet the head of the family.”

****

Hakuryuu’s hand found hers to help her move and he was held between her aged and warm hands, rough for the years of hard work.

****

The clouded eyes directed towards him, she spoke softly, but her voice was filled with powerful emotions. “Thank you for taking care of Touka.”

****

Judar’s smile faded when pearl shaped tears started rolling down Hakuryuu’s cheeks. His luminous eyes glistening while the muscles of his chin trembled. How did an adult as developed as Hakuryuu still had a child’s face when he cried?

****

Judar remembered fondly all the clowning he had to make when Hakuryuu was a kid to make him stop crying. Judar wanted to think for a moment that Hakuryuu looked like an idiot every time he was overwhelmed by emotions. However, looking at the prince helping the old lady stand up and the tender smiles of both gratitude and relief they had, he thought it was quite the contrary. Hakuryuu looked even more human than any other person he had met before. _And people dared to say Alibaba was the gentle one, what a joke,_ he thought.

****

“Oi! Don’t be dramatic Hakuryuu! Let’s have supper! Sun will be setting soon.”

****

“Is it alright for you to be so cheeky with your liege? Shouldn’t you be a bit more respectful?” Hayashi frowned inquisitively.

****

“Nuh-uh! I am allowed! A magi is never apologetic, especially not with their king!”

****

“You should learn some etiquette from your niece, you know?” Hakuryuu said in a confident tone, handing the grandmother’s weight to Rin Rei.

****

“What?! Whose side are you on, Hakuryuu?!”

****

“Sit down, Judar,” Hakuryuu instructed.

****

“Eeeeh? Geez, you just arrived and you’re already ordering me around.” Judar sat at the table regardless.

****

Rin Rei chuckled, “I’ve never seen you this docile, Touka.”

****

“Who are you calling docile?!”

****

Hakuryuu looked at Judar, in his new environment. It was hard to believe the origins of the proud and spoiled oracle of the Empire were so humble, but it filled Hakuryuu with a soft sensation.

****

Rin Rei helped the old matriarch to sit at the table and smiled when Hakuryuu sat next to Judar. His cousin and the prince couldn’t seem to stop looking at each other, even when they talked to someone else, their eyes irremediably landed on the other as if attracted by a commanding force, as if when they turned elsewhere the other would disappear.

****

A portion of hearty duck soup with yam and a plate of two steamed buns were placed in front of Hakuryuu, he bowed politely. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

****

Judar’s cousin’s face lit up, “we’re honored to serve Kou’s savior.” Hakuryuu bit his lip, keeping his endless thread of ‘buts’ to himself.

****

Judar ate quickly the soup, slurping it with gusto and demanding a new bowl when he was finished. Judar seemed as vivacious as always, and that to Hakuryuu that was a breath of clean air.

****

“We have a small house, we don’t have accommodations for many people, but I am sure I and my husband can offer our room for you, it’s the bigger one, king Hakuryuu.”

****

“Don’t worry about me, Lady Rin Rei. I will share the room with Judar.” 

****

“Of course, bothering me ‘cause you don’t want to bother my cousins, typical Hakuryuu.” Judar rolled his eyes.

****

“Don’t talk to your king like that, Touka.” Rin Rei shook her head in disapproval.

****

“Hah! Make me!”

****

“Your cousin is trying to be polite, Judar,” Hakuryuu said calmly, having a bite of his bun.

****

“Don’t interfere, Hakuryuu!” Judar complained while he shot upwards and tried to rush to the kitchen, but a force in his wrist stopped him roughly. Hakuryuu’s hand grabbed quickly his forearm, Judar started at the forceful gesture.

****

“Where are you going?” Hakuryuu’s eyes changed in an instant, they seemed to be overflowing with anxiety.

****

Judar swallowed and watched the prince cautiously, he knew exactly what had triggered such a response. His words caused the prince’s mind to play a flashback to his defeat.

****

“I am going to the kitchen. We need more tea.” Judar turned the pot in the air to show Hakuryuu it was empty.

****

“Oh…” Hakuryuu let go the hand, seeming unsure to let it slip out of his completely.

****

The look the prince sent to his magi didn’t need to be deciphered with words.

****

_Don’t leave my side. You have been away for far too long._


	2. No more lonely nights

After dinner, the prince had a tour to the rooms in the small house, and right after that, he was leaving his belongings in Judar’s room. It was as simple as a peasant room could be, just a Kang bed and a chest for storage. The magician helped Hakuryuu store his spare robes while he talked. “This is the room where I lived, my bassinet was here,” Judar pointed to the center of the room, “and there my family was killed.”

****

Hakuryuu gasped, astonished by the sudden revelation, he watched the dark wood at the center, no doubt it was scrubbed hard to get the blood color out. The prince could only look down, utterly depressed, “Judar I am sorry.”

****

The magi pursed his lips but shrugged it off. “Oh, well… It happened a long time ago!”

****

“You know,” the prince tried to prod, “you can talk to me about it.”

****

“There’s no point in doing that, oh look!” Judar pulled a small doll from the chest he was placing the clothes in, “this was a toy my mom sewed for me! Isn’t it cute?

****

Hakuryuu grabbed Judar’s arm, his touch was not soft or reassuring, he knew that Judar didn't like people to treat him as if he was made of crystal - like Al Thamen used to do.

****

“Judar-”

****

Crimson eyes were fixed in Hakuryuu’s, feeling the prince wanted to talk about the subject further, press into him. People needed to talk about feelings, but Judar didn’t know how to talk about something that in his head didn’t make sense, his emotions had no beginning and no end, they didn’t have an up or a down - they moved quickly like fishes in a pond. Whatever it was at the bottom of that black pond he did not want to know. He preferred to think about other things, important things. Things like Hakuryuu’s brows furrowed with worry.

****

_Was that number thirty-four? The list!_

****

“WAIT! I made this list of a hundred things that are amazing about you! Where is it?“

****

“Oh Judar, no…”

****

Judar rummaged frantically in the chest until he pulled a white paper out. “Here it is! One! You are so strong willed! Two! Your face is-”

****

Hakuryuu just looked at Judar, hearing attentive at every word he had to say. He didn’t use to give absolute attention to anything - but so long had passed without hearing Judar’s voice and talking to him and only him, Hakuryuu just wanted to hear everything, he wanted to know everything, and don’t miss a single thing. He wished Judar could open up about what he felt about his family, but Hakuryuu was content just hearing his inner ramblings about him.

****

Or that’s what he thought at first. The list did him _too much_ justice every number Judar chanted, Hakuryuu became more and more embarrassed - to the point he started to sweat. A drop slid over his eyelid and he wiped it. A hundred things? How could Judar even think in so many things? Not only that, they were all different from another.

****

Hakuryuu choked on his spit when Judar reached the seventy eight. _You are the sexiest king candidate in the whole world_. A compliment on his calligraphy followed quickly after, and then he went on to his good taste in clothes. Hakuryuu couldn’t stop to think about the random praise on his sex appeal because the relentless list of praises continued on.

****

Hakuryuu couldn’t name the feeling that was tickling his stomach. Bashfulness? Flattery? Whatever it was, it was hauntingly familiar, the feeling of butterflies in his stomach.

****

“Oh yeah! A hundred and one!” Judar wrote another line, “you are as tall as me now!”

****

“I… Don’t know what to say.”

****

Judar folded the paper again and put it back on the chest, “about what?”

****

The prince cleared his throat, Judar didn’t expect any comments from him about the list, and it was clear why. It was the magi’s truth and nothing else could be added about it. Hakuryuu wondered if it was a magi thing, romanticize their king candidates to the point of blindness. Lord Aladdin seemed to be also set on Lord Alibaba’s qualities, dismissing the faults as simple accidents.

****

Hakuryuu, absorbed in his thoughts, started to pull the covers from the bed and was startled for a second. There was only one bed. It was indecorous to sleep with someone, sleep with a man, sleep with his magi. Judar took his choli off and jumped to the bed, settling on one side. In that moment Hakuryuu’s brain stopped functioning correctly.

****

“I am so glad you came looking for me, I was starting to think you had pushed me to the side as you promised,” Judar laughed.

****

The prince walked slowly along the side of the bed, like an animal that needs to circle one place to lay down in a place that seem unsafe. He replied mindlessly, “I was hopeful, that you came to me the same way Lord Aladdin came to Lord Alibaba’s side.”

****

Judar frowned, feeling he was being compared to the small excuse of a magi that had pushed him away from what he treasured most. He had searched for his king for more than a year and a half. In his relentless search he have found the hidden village, but apparently, the twerp had find his way to his king’s side. It was not fair.

****

The sour gesture on the magician’s face made Hakuryuu go back to reality and removed his yi, staying with the clothes beneath and took his place in the bed. The bed was as big as any bed for one person could be, maybe if he stayed immobile on his side he wouldn’t touch his companion while sleeping. He slept in the same room with Aladdin for a while in separate hammocks, but he had never shared the bed with someone. Hakuryuu noticed Judar was silent and decided to keep talking. “The moment I sent the signal with my magoi, I got an answer - my netsumegusa seeds were somewhere out there and I wanted to believe they were with you.”

****

“I never took them out of my pants, mind you. They were hard to look after in the dark continent, there were little disgusting crawlers that wanted to feast on them.”

****

“-But I was also uncertain, like you.”

****

“Uncertain?”

****

“You’d known by then that in the end, I didn’t have what it took to be emperor… I stepped down. I thought you could be disgusted, or even find me pitiful… Or-”

****

“Were you questioning my loyalty?!” Judar snapped, he didn’t look angry, but something that seemed like hurt flashed quickly on his face. It disappeared in seconds as Judar gave him an exaggerated mock eye roll.

****

Hakuryuu was slowly reading Judar better now that he gave him full scrutiny. Those quick gestures that betrayed the magi’s words were there before? Years ago he could have understood him better if only he had to pay more attention. “No, I was… Questioning everything It was an endless thread of could haves, should haves, would haves…”

****

The magi was by his side, looking at him with his intense, unreadable red eyes. Hakuryuu was nervous but in the end, it didn’t matter, all the words that he always wanted to say couldn’t die in his throat again. He thought he have lost his magi for good, and just in the same way Judar have poured his thoughts in a ridiculous list - he could tell in return what was on his mind. “Nobody had given me anything so I took anything and everything I could from you. I was selfish. I was greedy.”

****

Judar chuckled, he have heard before the prince was using him, keeping him around for his benefit. “Duh?! Of course, you were.” Judar said, unfazed. “I was the one you should’ve taken everything from. If not me, who? The shrimp? I still believe you didn’t take enough of me. And? I took everything from you too. We took everything we wanted from the other, as it should be. I took delight in our rampage - I took the best time of my life from you.”

****

There was a small rustle in the bed from the jump Hakuryuu gave, bewildered by Judar’s matter-of-fact statement. He had the worst time of his life after Judar was gone, but he never thought about the time they were together could be one of the best times. All those years Judar was gone, he felt guilty that he was taking everything from Judar and never gave anything back. The butterflies were back in his stomach and Hakuryuu was beyond baffled.

****

“I hated the time you were gone.” He admitted.

****

Crimson eyes widened. “I hated it too. But you survived fairly well.”

****

“Surviving is one thing… Living - that’s something different.”

****

The magi didn’t know Hakuryuu would grieve him, but it made him feel warmer while realizing he did. “You left the old hag in control of the Empire,” Judar laughed, “of all people, that sucks. It doesn’t matter, I know you’d be a much better ruler - you just needed me around to boost your confidence.”

****

Hakuryuu smiled, filled with the fuzzy feeling of Judar’s voice. “You really are something else.” He laid on his back and felt Judar’s braid on his leg. “Move your hair, it’s going to get tangled here.”

****

Judar threw his braid to the side, releasing the air that made the spheres and letting it flop next to the wall, and away from Hakuryuu. Then he looked how Hakuryuu removed his hairpin, and the strands cascading Hakuryuu’s shoulders. “You know, I always liked the color of your hair, it looks like a deep sea…”

****

“Yeah, I think you’ve mentioned it, in the number fifty-nine.”

****

“You paid attention.”

****

“I intend to pay attention. To everything.”

****

They stayed silent, looking at each other’s eyes, not knowing what to say next. But then Judar started chirping happily about everything remotely interesting that had seen on the dragon’s back and globe-trotting the world. Hakuryuu talked about the war and his time as emperor.

****

Both of them talked and laughed for hours. Like if they wanted to cover four years in one night. Hakuryuu stopped talking when he watched with amusement how Judar’s eyes started closing like those of a sleepy child. Hakuryuu blew the oil lamp's ember off and closed his eyes. Hearing Judar’s breathing proved to be the most relaxing sound he’d ever heard.

****

But at moments, that sound faded and Hakuryuu, a victim of anxiety, reached every time to touch Judar’s arm. He told himself it was just an automatic fleeting gesture. Just because he wanted to remember he was there, and they were given a second chance.

****

In the middle of the night, a hard movement on the bed woke Hakuryuu up, instinctively, he reached for his sword, but he noticed Judar had shot upright and was now in a sitting position, panting.

****

“Judar? What is it?”

****

“I hate it, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, panicking, thinking I’m back in Al Thamen’s circle, or still stuck in that horrible place with the stupid doll.”

****

“Lord Alibaba?”

****

“Yes, that idiot, he is so annoying.” Judar huffed rubbing his eyes and lying back on his place.

****

They talked for a while, to calm the magi down and Judar started to snooze once more, Hakuryuu’s words met with silence and he patted unsurely Judar’s side again.

****

“Why do you keep doing that?” Judar’s sleepy voice startled the prince.

****

“S-sorry.”

****

“I’m not telling you to apologize, I’m asking why.”

****

“I feel like you’re going to disappear in any second, is that stupid?”

****

“It’s not stupid, I don’t want this to be a dream.” Judar said, sounding more asleep than awake.

****

“It is not a dream.” Hakuryuu repeated the word, more to assure himself than his companion.

****

They slept until the first rays of sun hit the window and there were faint noises outside their door, Hakuryuu could hear steps in the small shared courtyard, undoubtedly Rin Rei’s husband was preparing to go work to the fields.

****

Hakuryuu was laying on his stomach, with his face towards the door, his fingers reached unsurely to his side and grazed against Judar’s arm.

****

The magi’s voice startled him again. “Yes, I am still here.”

****

“I don’t know why I keep doing that.” Hakuryuu scrambled on his side to face Judar.

****

“I wouldn’t mind it if it didn’t feel like-” Judar stopped mid sentence. “Your hand creeps me out, it is Kouen’s hand, yuck.”

****

“It’s not Kouen’s hand anymore, it has my magoi, it’s a mixture.”

****

“Still it’s weird. Your hands used to be more calloused.” Judar grabbed the hand to have a closer look.

****

“I’m working on ruining this set of extremities too, give me time. They are much more damaged than when Kouen passed them to me.”

****

Judar played with his fingers examining them in the early morning light. Then he placed the prince’s hand in his solar plexus and closed his eyes to sleep again.

****

Hakuryuu tried to retrieve his hand but it was put in place again by Judar, no explanation followed after. Hakuryuu supposed he was done with being pawed at. The prince could sleep again, contrary at what usually happened - once he was up he could never go back again to sleep. But Judar’s soothing movement and gently breathing dozed him for a couple more hours.

****

When he saw proper rays peeking in the floor, Hakuryuu stretched, careful to not touch his companion and got up. Judar followed after, with both eyelids still lazily glued together. He clumsily got off the bed and leaned on the wall having a drink of water from a goblet.

****

Hakuryuu cleaned his face with a wet towel and offered the clean side to Judar, who rubbed it furiously against his eyes.

****

It didn’t take long for them to be ready, Hakuryuu was doing his hair when he saw Judar throwing the sheets over the bed and settling them.

****

“Are you making your bed?”

****

“I can do things for myself, you know.”

****

“That is surprising.”

****

“You say it as if you hadn’t changed your ways a little too. Your white rukh is annoying.”

****

“Is it?”

****

“Yeah.” Judar’s lip curled.

****

“I thought you would hate it.” Hakuryuu said with a sigh, he didn’t want to touch the subject. Ever. But it had to be done.

****

“I kind of do…” Judar made a face as if he just tasted a sour lime. Hakuryuu seemed more relaxed with his white tranquil rukh, a question haunted him since the day prior. “Do you regret falling into depravity?”

****

“I kind of do.” Hakuryuu replied calmly, echoing the magician’s words.

****

Judar felt like if the prince had struck him with his gundao, deeply and strongly to his chest. Then there was an odd sensation, he felt water in his right eye, the world started to look blurred through it. _What the hell? Is this a te-?_ Judar recoiled from Hakuryuu’s presence and prepared to bolt, but he was stopped- again by Hakuryuu’s powerful grapple on his wrist.

****

“I don't regret taking your hand. I don't regret letting you lead me. I will _never_ regret it. I just regret the way things unfolded, I regret sacrificing too much for too little. The crown and Kou’s control hardly was worth the misery I endured.”

****

The magi couldn’t look back until the drop fell from his eye. Hakuryuu kept talking.

****

“I regret that fight that took you away from me and I regret not being the king’s candidate you deserved.”

****

Finally, Judar’s eyes meet the sheer sharpness of the mismatched gaze, the magi didn’t recall Hakuryuu’s eyes being that piercing. They were angry at times, distant, gentle or fidgety with embarrassment - at times they never even seemed to register him or the world around. But these eyes were pinning him - fierce, flaming and _wanting_.

****

“I will forever follow your lead.” The affirmation of the prince was assertive.

****

Judar looked marveled at the certainty on Hakuryuu’s face. He believed him immediately and smiled, and received a warm smile back, they lingered grabbing each other's hand that way.

****

The door was still open from Judar’s resolve to leave, so Rin Rei stepped outside to offer clean towels. “Touka, I put water in the basin, do you need-” she stopped when she saw her cousin and his king with laced hands.

****

The magi jerked away as if he had been found doing something naughty, Hakuryuu frowned when Judar's hand was taken from him.

****

“Ah! Thank you cousin!” Judar grabbed the towels and placed them over the chest. “Is breakfast ready?”

****

“Yes, please take your seat when you’re ready.” She bowed and left quickly.

****

Breakfast in Kou’s provinces were always filling and warm. Hakuryuu ate slowly his portion of rice porridge and egg, feeling invigorated and ready for an exciting day with Judar. “-I will help with the rice to your cousin’s husband, any kind of plantation, I will make a good use of Zagan.”

****

Judar moved his spoon, stirring purposelessly the porridge, “you brought Zagan but you didn’t bring Belial.”

****

“I couldn’t wield Belial with you gone. I didn’t deserve it.”

****

“Is that so?”

****

“Are you upset? I couldn’t Judar, I felt guilty and-”

****

“I get it, Hakuryuu, don’t get dramatic. Now I’m here and you can use it again.”

****

The prince nodded, shamefully.

****

They left the cabin after eating, and walked down to the flooded fields. Hakuryuu admired the beauty of the steep hill. A few farmers walked with their oxen along the adjacent marsh, Judar took the opportunity to make his voice heard with magic.

****

“Everyone! It is recollection time, the rightful emperor of Kou will grace you with his magic!”

****

Hakuryuu cringed and whispered, “why do you keep calling me emperor in front of these people?”

****

The magi laughed and slapped his king’s back, “come on! They admire you!”

****

The farmers looked at each other, confused. Rin Rei’s husband smiled “harvesting in spring? Rice crops are bountiful at the beginning of Autumn, if we can gain a season of rice we could fill our silos!”

****

The seal of Solomon shun in Hakuryuu’s weapon. The seedlings that were barely peeking their sprout in the mud, started to grow to young green shoots and then the small flowers started to appear in the grass. The farmers gasped in astonishment.

****

After an hour, they were all crouched, knee-deep in the muddy water, cutting the plants with sickles, then some more farmers arrived and started threshing the rice with wooden structures and a tarp.

****

Satisfied with the glee of the farmers, Hakuryuu followed Judar and they took the forested path down the hill towards the village.

****

They walked on the pebble path, admiring the arrangements of spring flowers the townspeople were adorning their houses with. Orchids, chrysanthemums and peonies giving color and a sweet smell to the narrow streets.

****

“In two days is the Spring festival, isn’t it beautiful? You came with spring.”

 

Hakuryuu smiled tenderly at Judar’s giggle, around the corner, he saw a lady doing pottery and stopped Judar quickly, grabbing his hand.

****

“What is it?”

****

Wordless, Hakuryuu took a knee and examined two beautiful twin tea cups one painted black and one white. Their smooth lacquer shun between the bowls, jars and plates glazed with celadon, their bulbous shape and rustic charm attracted the prince’s attention, that and the simple serpentine dragons that adorned them.

****

Judar crouched with him. “They’re like us, they’re the same but different.”

****

“That makes no sense, Judar.”

****

The lady bowed to them, “the savior of our world can take them.”

****

“I will buy them, but I am grateful of your courtesies and the goodness of your heart. Name your price, I insist.” Hakuryuu said kindly.

****

Both cups were wrapped in paper and carried by the prince in his lunch sack. Judar waved to some merchants sitting by their stands. The prince thought of how different it was from the markets in the city, full of fine silks from Kou’s outskirts, wines from Reim, rugs from Balbadd and sparkling jewelry from Sindria. But this farmer’s market, humble and small was full of fraternal life, families bringing fresh goods from the orchards, fish freshly brought from the river and lake, and all the spring blossoms, that gave a festive splatter of color and aroma.

****

Judar talked about the upcoming festival that took place when the flowers were in full bloom. The families of farmers, fishermen and hunters celebrated the spring, for it welcomed the warmth and the tea harvest.

****

They stopped in front of a mature man that had a wooden cart, full of dried leaves. Green, white, yellow and black. Hakuryuu took one leave to smell it.

****

“My emperor, if I may give you my recommendation-” said the man, puffing out the smoke of his long pipe, “-the old tea tree leaves make an excellent tea, it would be my honor to offer you a sample of the choicest leaves for you to see if it’s of your liking.”

****

Five hours later, Hakuryuu and Judar sat on the wooden seat outside the cabin, their tea cups were placed on the window frame where Judar had the elbow rested on, while he watched the beautiful scenery. By their cups, there was a small kettle filled with the aged tea, carefully brewed by the prince on the fire of the kitchen.

****

“This was me cause it’s black,” Judar said reaching for the tea cup. But the prince's hand was quicker at taking it.

****

“That’s what I want to have then, I want to have you and you can have me,” Hakuryuu stuttered realizing what he just said, “fi-figuratively speaking of course. To- to have the other’s- I mean to have something to remember by in case we get separated again.”

****

“Of course. Right.” Judar nodded, hating the idea of being away.

****

Hakuryuu seemed confused and flushed to the ears, then something struck Judar’s mind with sudden force.

****

Where was the dividing line between 'partners’ and ' _partners_ ’? When did ‘something’ transformed into ‘something more’? Judar really wanted to know how it worked. Because he had seen something like that bashful reaction before, from Kougyoku and her hopeless romantic crushes. But again, that was Hakuryuu, and his eyes were never on anyone but his goals. So Judar really wanted clarification if the prince could see him as something else than magi and king or partner in crime.

****

What they had was absolute understanding and it was nice, it was his comfort zone. And as any other comfortable feelings, Judar relished it. But the unknown was also attractive, almost as attractive as the prince.

****

Would there be a chance to have something else with the prince one day?

****

Judar was at peace with his unrequited attraction to the prince, he had always been, because he discarded anything further than partnership as impossible. Now the little worm of doubt crept on his mind.

****

Hakuryuu served the tea and Judar admired his poise, everything in the way he moved was dignified and majestic. Judar wanted the crown of the world for that man years ago and nothing had changed. It made him proud that the prince had been doing so well even in his absence, that king was made of pure iron, but nobody ever noticed cause he seemed made of porcelain.

****

“You’re so strong...”

****

“Number five.” Hakuryuu informed, unfazed.

****

“Strong physically… But your posture is swanlike.”

****

“You did say my stance was immaculate.”

****

“Did you memorize the list? What the heck?”

****

“I have a good memory.”

****

“Number one hundred and two,” Judar said with a vulpine grin.

****

“Are you going to add one more to say how good at _breathing_ I am?.”

****

“Don’t tempt me.”

****

“I will try not to.” Hakuryuu smirked and he was automatically startled at how much like flirting that interaction sounded. He had never flirted with anyone before, but he remembered how Yamato and Lord Aladdin behaved like with women, and it was very close.

****

Hayashi passed by, striding towards the entrance with a dry pastry in her mouth, “nh! Goof efening your Mafefty.”

****

The prince chuckled, “good evening little Lady Hayashi.”

****

“Yo! Kid, gimme one of those.” Judar pointed at the pastry.

****

The girl obeyed and placed the package in her hands on the table and took her pastry out of her mouth. “You can have them, the baker gave them to me for the mighty emperor and Touka’s family.”

****

“Please, give my gratitude to the baker next time you go.” Hakuryuu smiled gently.

****

Hayashi smiled back and bowed, “you are as kind as Touka said.”

****

“Touka needs to stop glorifying his king’s virtues.” Hakuryuu gave a cheeky smile to the magician.

****

Judar shrugged, “I’m not glorifying anything, it’s you who is getting all worked up.”

****

“You are the one who started loudly proclaiming me the greatest of Kou’s emperors.”

****

“And you obviously must be since I chose you as emperor! That’s how awesome you are!” Judar cooed.

****

Hakuryuu massaged the points of his left eyebrow, grumbling. Of course, that was the reason, he had all the requisites because in Judar’s eyes there was nothing in the world he couldn’t do - and that was the metric, Judar’s opinion.

****

Hayashi excused herself and got inside the house, Hakuryuu leaned on the window frame, looking at the mountains. The sky was cast in hues of golden and red, the sun was already sinking halfway behind the far forests on the peaks.

****

They talked about the dark continent and its differences with the known world, about creatures and the taste of its vegetation and the time passed by.

****

Rin Rei had the dinner ready but she did not dare to interrupt them. Her cousin had never look so happy in the year she had known him. She left the sweet soup with glutinous rice balls filled with sesame paste in the pot for them to eat whenever they were ready.

****

Later that night when she was tucking her grandmother in her bed, she heard the two men having a quarrel over dinner and she smiled. When she was done they were both heading to their room. She bid them goodnight and the king and his magi closed their door for the evening.


	3. King and Magi

That night was calm, after talking for a couple more hours, the magi’s eyes started to close. As the day before, Judar took Hakuryuu’s hand and placed it on his solar plexus, the prince didn’t question it that time either.

 

Something tickled his nose in the morning, and Hakuryuu grimaced, slowly coming to his senses he realized that the culprit was Judar’s hair. But the real alarming part was that their bodies somehow had settled against each other at night, his hand was bracing Judar’s side and he was spooning the magi, very comfortably.

 

_What the hell?!_

 

Hakuryuu could have jumped to the ceiling, but a harsh movement would wake the magi up, and the prince wouldn’t even bear to look at his face while trying to explain why was he embracing him so closely. He moved carefully, as slowly as one would walk around a trap that could be triggered at any given second.

 

 _Bad, bad, this is all bad,_  he told himself while he removed the blanket and his eyes trailed down the curve of the magician’s body, the graceful dip of his back, the impossibly narrow waist and the soft swell of his rear, almost visible with the low pants. He had to tear his gaze apart as soon as he realized he was staring. He peeled carefully his clothes and limbs from his bed companion and moved slightly back. Judar was soft, so much Hakuryuu was in shock, nothing had ever flawed that hip and back, it was satin under the prince’s hand.

 

Bewildered, Hakuryuu left the bed and walked out the door, from the courtyard he could still see Judar’s prone form, he scooped up the water from the bucket Rin Rei had left for them and removing the top part of his yi, and then he splashed his face, neck, and armpits waking up from the daze. The prince then returned to the room to wake the magician.

 

As expected, Judar grimaced and wiggled deeper beneath the sheets to hold onto his slumber. Hakuryuu snickered and started to tickle the magi’s nose with the tip of his braid. The drowsy magician whined in protest, “I never liked your way to wake me up.” The circles in the magician irises moved as his eyes opened blearily and slowly focused on the prince.

 

“I am glad I can tease you to wake you up again,” Hakuryuu said with a sad smile.

 

Judar didn’t say anything, because in his chest he also felt relief in the mornings when Hakuryuu’s face was the first thing he saw. He squinted at his king and squeezed his eyes to wake up more efficiently.

 

The prince watched in amusement how Judar stumbled on the room to wash his face in the courtyard. He followed after and slid open the door of the kitchen, he heard the crackle of the burning firewood and the thunk sounds of the pot. He walked to it and served two bowls of porridge, then he took two eggs and cracked them over the bowl. The heat of the rice started cooking the egg slowly, Hakuryuu stirred the goo with the mushy grainy porridge.

 

After breakfast, the prince decided to help other parts of the village with Zagan’s magic. Judar and him parted to the lands where gardeners were taking care of their crops. Next, to them, there were orchards with trees full of blooming flowers. Hakuryuu walked in one of the paths in between, his metal vessel made the blossoms morph into fat and juicy fruit around him, every time he started to feel his magoi draining, Judar collected rukh to replenish it. It was them working together all over again, it felt as if Judar had never really left his side at all. Hakuryuu found admirable the way their lives, routines and ways intertwined, reconnected and seamlessly fused.

 

Judar decided to check on a land, planted with mature radishes and make sure they had enough water.

 

“Rin Rei asked me for some radishes, I am going to ask for some to the uncle that is collecting them. Bring some yummy peaches when you’re done! These are the finest in all Kou!”

 

“I will finish the last portion of this land and I will be right there, don’t go too far away without permission.”

 

Judar laughed, “as you wish my king!”

 

The prince frowned at the cheeky response and watched his partner run towards the farmer. Then he watched after the peach trees that Judar had found ‘the finest of all Kou’. After taking care of them producing fruit, and gathering some in a basket, he noticed that one of the trees was crooked and dark. It appeared something happened to it and made it grow bad and diseased, Hakuryuu thought that with a little help, the tree could be as full of healthy leaves and plump fruit as the rest.

 

He made a microbe that swirled in an upward spiral around the trunk, as the rest of his magoi was dedicated to returning the green to its branches.

 

Hakuryuu stared, it seemed like a flying dragon, embracing and supporting the black tree, now blooming dozens of peach blossoms. _Touka_.

 

The dragon around the blossoming peach… How symbolic.

 

He wanted to show Judar his work of art, so he walked towards the plantations, where the rebel prince who was also a metal vessel user was plowing on the land with his men.

 

“It is disgraceful that a prince like you can’t help a fellow monarch in need, do you know how hard does that treacherous magi had made me work?”

 

“You better toil harder then. Judar won’t let you go until he sees this land baring good vegetables.”

 

“It’s fine, after this my magi and I will restore my well-deserved power!”

 

Hakuryuu stopped in his tracks, glancing over his shoulder _“Your_ magi?” he scoffed lowly. He resumed his steps thinking what could have drive Judar to give Nerva a hand. He was too quick in looking for a new king candidate, wasn’t he? Did he miss war that much? If the Reim’s prince was important Judar wouldn’t be enslaving him, would he?

 

The prince found Judar crouched in front of an irrigated piece of ground.

 

“Radishes are the most stupid plant.” the magi snickered showing him a daikon which had two long roots that seemed like crossed legs. “Look at this sassy bastard.” Judar started laughing at the root dangling in his hand.

 

Hakuryuu just half smiled, however, he lost all his sense of humor in his inner rant.

 

“Are you _my_ magi?” Hakuryuu said, careful with his tone, trying to look casual.

 

“That’s literally the stupidest question you’ve ever made,” Judar said putting the daikon in the basket with his peaches and other assorted vegetables.

 

“You have many kings.”

 

“Yes, I do. But they don’t have a magi. Only you do.”

 

Hakuryuu sighed, feeling a sort of relief and Nerva’s voice echoes disappeared from his ears.

 

“I chose you as my king. You always were and will ever be the number one, compared to others you will always win.” Judar went on. “I should be the one to ask you. You conquered two dungeons, two metal vessels…”

 

“I can’t deny I asked once Lord Aladdin’s help, but I have only one magi, and his name is Judar.”

 

They looked at each other’s eyes and they didn’t need any more words. They were king and magi, they were not without the other. And what they had was irreplaceable.

 

“We are king and magi,” Judar affirmed.

 

Judar’s eyes then trailed to the Reim’s prince, who was plowing angrily at an especially rough pad of dirt. “Autumn and winter were difficult months to grow anything, I needed extra power to toil the land so I brought the rebels, but they’re so boring to be around and they can’t do things right! Isn’t that infuriating? I needed true strength. Where were you when I needed you?”

 

The magician assurance of him being the only one made Hakuryuu’s heart pound quicker, he wanted to pay back the courtesy and he smiled. “I was traveling all my way back, Lord Aladdin apparently couldn’t teleport us l instantly, where were you when _I needed_ you?”

 

Judar’s eyes widened in realization, Hakuryuu was praising his talent beyond Aladdin’s power. Teleporting was a difficult magic, it had cost him sweat and dedication four years back, and being better at it than that twerp made his chest swell with pride. His pulse started to race as his eyes trailed the features of the prince. It was very unprofessional of him as a magi to harbor a crush on his king, but Judar’s self-consciousness was long gone with his king’s pure rukh.

 

“I don’t think it will all be ready for the festival, should we keep on blooming the lands tomorrow, I mean, you’re not in a rush to go back to Kou, are you?” the magi inquired.

 

“I am not in a rush to go back to Kou. But will do eventually.” Hakuryuu assured.

 

“At least we will be in time for the flower festivities. My cousin will make you a flower crown you know.”

 

“Can’t wait to laugh at you when you wear yours.”

 

“Ha-ha, Hakuryuu. I will rock those flowers so well that you will feel stupid by implying I’d look ridiculous.”

 

“I am not implying it, I am assuring you.”

 

“Hey! Don’t make me call all the villagers to ask them to make special robes for you that day.”

 

“Don’t you dare! Where are you going? Come here!” Hakuryuu ran after Judar who was frolicking his way to the cabin.

 

When they arrived, Rin Rei was outside the house, plucking the feathers of a chicken.

 

“King Hakuryuu,” she bowed politely, “do you need anything?”

 

The prince smiled and bowed slightly, “that should be my question, you have to take care of Judar and me, if there is something I can do to repay you the favor please let me know.”

 

Judar scrunched his nose, “you two are gonna make me puke, what’s for dinner, cousin?”

 

“Noodles. I wished I had better ingredients for you, King Hakuryuu.”

 

“These ingredients are fresh and abundant, I wouldn’t be able to ask for better ones.” Hakuryuu smiled handing the woman the basket with vegetables and allowing Judar to take his share of peaches.

 

They sat next to the window frame again, sharing the peaches and carrots Hakuryuu had carefully picked. They watched the fields from afar and talked about the situation in Kou.

 

Judar wasn’t exactly loving the idea of Kou’s situation. “-all that palace bullshit was tiresome. I was prepared to live the rest of my life here if I never found you, I was going to look for you again, of course, but…”

 

Hakuryuu could understand, if things weren’t so bad with the previous civil war, the broken state of the country and its place in the world, he would have stayed with Judar there, and live a normal, humble life. If he had to spend the rest of his days in that place, he could never get bored with the scenery. It was a tranquil sanctuary, passed on as a treasure for generations, away from the palace gossip, the economic crisis and the conflict of leaders.

 

Live among the close community and help them with agriculture, enjoy the fire of their kitchen and breathe the soft breeze of the mornings. A simple kind of life.

 

Going back to Kou was more duty than desire. But duty was always more important than desire. Hakuryuu felt the pull of his duty over Kou, as hard as a magnet. Hakuryuu stood up taking his teacup with him.

 

“I understand, I have a responsibility to my country and my people, I have to try to help Kougyoku, make things right. And things with Sinbad are-”

 

“When will we leave?” Judar got on his feet.

 

“This is home for you, you could-” Hakuryuu’s teeth ground almost in agony by the idea of being alone again, and leave Judar behind him. “-you could stay.”

 

Judar snarled closing his fist and hitting the prince’s shoulder. “ _You-_ ” Judar pressed the fist and forearm across the prince’s chest and shoulder, pushing him, harder than what anyone thought the magician was capable of “-you _are_ home, you are _my_ home. Wherever you go I will go.”

 

“I will not be emperor again, Judar.” Hakuryuu winced, “I can’t-”

 

“I don’t give a fuck.” Judar snapped. “A dumb crown doesn’t take away the fact you are my king and you will be until the day I truly die. You can’t come for me to abandon me after.”

 

Those words shook Hakuryuu, he didn’t want to think of Judar’s death ever again. “I didn’t come just to pick you up, I came to give you the choice, I didn’t know you’d have a family.”

 

“I am choosing to leave with you.”

 

Hakuryuu frowned and took Judar’s wrist, pressed hard against his shoulder. “Then I will take you and never give you back. Are you alright with that?”

 

“It bears repeating. We are king and magi. Nothing can tear us apart. Not even djinn magic.”

 

Judar’s hand clawed the prince shoulder, remembering full well the harsh push of Ugo and the sight of the world where Hakuryuu was getting smaller, and smaller. The velocity in which he had been ripped apart of the best moment of his existence and the days of endless darkness. The magi sighed with a nostalgic smile, losing steam worth of four years.

 

Hakuryuu was flabbergasted at Judar’s gesture, his face seemed like if all the masks he had to hide behind had fallen, and there was only him, with his fears and his wishes. Simply Judar. The magi had always been the emotionally stronger one of the two, seeing the rare moment of vulnerability, moved Hakuryuu to the core.

 

“We are leaving in four days, I want to pay my respects for these kind people, your people before mine. We will make everything grow back to the previous state, we can leave the rebels here. I will make sure your family lives a better life.” The prince said.

 

Judar nodded silently.

 

“Let’s have supper.” Hakuryuu opened the door and waited for Judar.

 

It was a beautiful experience sharing a family dinner, the rest of Judar’s family visited the house and they sat around the low table with the matriarch at the head.

 

“Remember when Touka was born? He was all red like a little cherry.” Judar’s uncle said.

 

“And the volume of his cries! We thought he would grow up to be a merchant.” The older cousin added.

 

Judar laughed at the idea, “I would be the worst merchant in history! ‘Yo! Idiots! Buy my stuff. S’good ya know!’”

 

Hakuryuu almost choked slurping his noodles, then he swallowed and chuckled. “I bet he would start a fight every time someone said ‘no’.”

 

The whole family laughed and they passed more bowls of noodles to each other.

 

Judar was gulping down the broth on his bowl when his fourth cousin, a petite girl with long silky black hair sat next to Judar. “I am so jealous of you Touka, he is dreamy.”

 

“I know Yukio. He looks even better than when I left, how does that even happen?”

 

“The smile he gives you is so lovely.”

 

“Right? Right? He has the best smile!” Judar agreed proudly.

 

“I mean the one that gives you, he doesn’t smile like that to anyone else.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Judar saw the prince’s smile change to a polite smile to his aunt who was offering him another dish and commenting in how he needed to gain some weight, then Hakuryuu looked back at him and his smile turned playful, daring.

 

“See?”

 

Judar’s chest swelled at the thought of having a private smile just for him.

 

The family sang happily a Kou common folklore song and Judar joined clapping his hands, urging Hakuryuu to join as well, after that all the family was encouraging him to join them. Embarrassed, the Prince sang in a low voice, Judar got up from his seat and danced with his cousins. It was all joy and warmth in that small hut in the small village, humble and close, cozy and sheltered.

 

It was late when the prince and the magi went to bed, there was no talk that night, but Hakuryuu felt safe and cushy with his hand over Judar’s chest that breathed evenly.

 

Judar stirred in the middle of the night when he heard an insect outside, he was wary and alert, in case it was one of those venomous things from the dark continent, then he realized where he was and understood it was a cricket. But then, he was shocked to find himself entwined with Hakuryuu, limbs tangled, his head resting on the prince left bicep, and his leg surrounding Hakuryuu’s waist.

 

The magician tried to move away, even when he didn’t have the willpower to resist craving more of that pleasurable body contact. He had never been awakened to an intimate embrace, he had never been that close to Hakuryuu and not in a million years he would be respectful enough to not try to have a feel of his king.

 

To Judar’s disconcertion, the moment he tried to escape the embrace, the prince only coiled their bodies closer, as a child with a safety blanket, Hakuryuu had a placid smile in his dreams and it was getting harder for Judar to actually have the drive to leave his arms.

 

 _Fuck it, he will scold me when he wakes up anyway. Better have a good time meanwhile_. Judar wiggled even closer taking in all the warmth of his partner, it felt better than in his fantasies. Hakuryuu’s skin was comfortable, his limbs had the right amount of flesh and his musky scent was even better than when one would sniff him from afar. He sighed, content with the feeling of a warm embrace, he then could understand the fuss about sleeping with someone.

 

Hakuryuu felt movement in his arms and grimaced sleepily, slowly growing awake and blinking lazily. When he looked down he saw the culprit of the rustling. Judar was nuzzling blindly to his neck and their arms and legs were tightly holding the other.

 

_Not again._

 

He wondered if the magi was awake, but he dismissed it when he heard a loud snore coming from the magician, Hakuryuu’s arm and leg were imprisoned by the soft body next to him. Hakuryuu never knew it would be an enjoyable feeling. If somebody had told him years ago that he would be cuddling in bed with the black Oracle of Kou he would have been in absolute disbelief. He didn’t know how to even begin to pull away and decided not to - because he always could blame it all on Judar and tease him some in the morning.

 

The next time he woke up it was morning. Hakuryuu was quickly awoken by a familiar smell. A smell he did not like. In fact, he loathed. He squinted and saw the familiar cloudy movement, entering the room beneath the door.

 

There was smoke outside…

 

He quickly reached for Judar to wake him up, but Judar wasn’t there.

 

His memories and imagination jumbled together, answering his questions with bad scenarios, each one worse than the last.

 

“Judar?” He called, “Judar?!”

 

Hakuryuu rushed outside and crossed the courtyard and found it empty, the kitchen, the living room was all empty, at least he couldn’t find the source of the fire. He left the cabin in seconds, heart pounding violently in his chest.

 

“Jud-”

 

He gasped in relief when he saw Rin Rei and other women nearby the house, they were smoking meat, for the festival no doubt.

 

“Emperor Hakuryuu!” One of them bowed. “We are sorry if we scared you with the smoke.”

 

Hakuryuu breathed hard, trying to calm his paranoid thoughts. “Where is Touka?”

 

Rin Rei pointed at the sky. Judar was casting something. They felt winds circling them and the smoke started to rise in a column, slowly, the smoke started to recede from their surroundings, sucked up by the current.

 

“Touka said your Majesty didn’t like smoke, he was helping us get rid of it.  We are sorry if it caused you an inconvenience.”

 

Hakuryuu sighed, he had discovered with dismay that the protectiveness he had for Hakuei years before had projected in Judar. He rambled in silent chagrin.

 

“Hakuryuu! I thought you were still sleeping!” Judar landed closer to the cabin.

 

“Don’t leave without a word!” Hakuryuu snapped striding towards him.

 

The magi smiled, “but you seemed so peaceful that it seemed wrong to wake you up. And then I saw smoke sneaking under the door and thought you would not like that.”

 

“I did not like it, but you know what I liked even less? Not finding you next to me when there was smoke outside!”

 

Judar cocked his head to the side. Like trying to connect two neurons together and process what the problem was.

 

The prince grumbled, “I thought everything was on fire, I thought you were out with the fire.”

 

The magician’s eyes widened in understanding.

 

“You don’t trust in my abilities anymore?”

 

“I don’t-?!” Hakuryuu lifted his fist to not raise his voice, “I have blind trust in your abilities. I have no control over what I feel about fire and smoke sometimes, okay?”

 

“Okay, next time fire or smoke is involved I will wake you up, no matter how happy you look sleeping.”

 

“Thank you,” Hakuryuu walked inside the house and Judar followed.

 

The prince brewed tea and took the iron kettle with a cloth, then they sat on their usual spot outside on the wooden bench next to the window frame, finally at peace. Hakuryuu served the tea while they enjoyed the crisp and cool matutine breeze.

 

Judar held the prince’s shoulders while he sipped his tea.

 

“You’re very touchy lately,” Hakuryuu regarded the arm that was over his shoulders while he peeled off an orange.

 

“That’s rich coming from the person that snuggles me in his sleep!”

 

“Me?! You are the one who had snuck into my personal space, twice!”

 

“Twice? And you didn’t say anything?”

 

Hakuryuu’s mouth opened but no words came out, but then, as if the destiny was on Hakuryuu’s part, Judar’s carp-like attention in a span of six seconds made him turn his head elsewhere.

 

“Hakuryuu! Look! Kites!” Judar jumped from his seat.

 

At the distance, there were some kids flying a dragon-kite. Hakuryuu followed a very excited Judar, yelling at the kids it was his turn.

 

Two adults brought immediately two dragon kites to the prince and the magi, Judar ran with the chords in his fists and tried to pull them to catch the winds. Hakuryuu slowly caught a breeze and his kite started flying, serene and calm under the dewy blue skies and curls of clouds.

 

Judar’s kite made a haphazard dive and shook wildly beneath it.

 

“This is harder than I thought!” Judar said with a grimace.

 

Hakuryuu chuckled and took one of Judar’s chords, pulling gently and the kite soared, steady and secure next to his.

 

“Add ‘number a hundred and three: flies kites’ to the list, please.”

 

“I am also a magnet for a peach-eating critter. Add that to the list.”

 

Judar stuck out his tongue impolitely, “you mean magi of creation, keeper of thousands of formulae, owner of the third Ilah’s eye, he who is like a black sun!?”

 

“I mean ‘huggy when drowsy’.”

 

“Keep making fun of me, jerk, I will add ‘master cuddler’ to the list, and you know I will!”

 

They kept bickering until their kites fell like feathers beside them, in their quarrel, they had gotten tangled.

 

“See? I blame you for this.” Judar whined.

 

Hakuryuu handed the kites to the artisans that made them and they undid the mess of chords easily. The prince and the magi flew kites until their bellies informed it was lunchtime.

 

They sat on the soft grass and shared the homemade buns. It was peaceful and fresh air in the middle of a never-ending sandstorm. Hakuryuu wondered if they could come back one day and live there. And share steamed buns, kites, family dinners - and maybe sometimes more morning embraces.

 

When they were back in the cabin, the ladies were getting everything for the festival.

 

“Touka, come here a second please.”

 

“What is it Mei?” Judar got closer to the older woman.

 

“You have to look presentable for the festival, we have the flowers ready. We have Hakuryuu’s crown ready as well.”

 

Hakuryuu sighed, he would do it if it was the tradition. Rin Rei placed a crown made of branches on his head, the prince was glad to see it wasn’t a cheesy flower crown like the ones Kougyoku made, it did look fit for the king of a forest. He found, pleased, that it fitted him perfectly as the master of Zagan.

 

“Wait! Aren’t these like a _lot_ of flowers?” the voice of the magi was inside a circle of women.

 

“Don’t move, Touka, you’re ruining it!”

 

“Nobody has had the hair this long in the family, you need to show it off.”

 

“Stop messing with my braid, hags!”

 

Hakuryuu snickered, he couldn’t see anything but he already knew it was going to be priceless.

 

Judar’s braid was adorned with big peonies, camellias and framing his enchanting face and scattered in his long braid. White, black and red, the most dangerous combination of nature, Judar.

 

“Don’t say anything.” the magi’s lips curled in an attractive pout. He was bitter, Hakuryuu looked good in his crown and he felt like a living flowerpot. He had let the women do it only because it felt right to give his family a small victory.

 

Hakuryuu just smiled, drinking the image, “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

 

“Right!” Judar frowned, not believing him for a second.

 

When all the family was ready, they made their way to the limestone tiled area where the festival was about to begin. Judar helped his grandmother move, sitting her in a flying rug.

 

It wasn’t an enormous festival like the one in Kou’s capital or an extravagant bacchanal like those of Sindria. It was a small community area, surrounded by paper lamps with flickering lights.. Music filled the air, and it was all smiles and joy what Hakuryuu could see around him. Simple tables had the dishes each house had brought in tribute for the festivities. The prince, of course, had a privileged seat.

 

People around them would toast for the rightful emperor’s good health and long life. And the magi, every time had a high chin, proud like a peacock of his people and their respect for his chosen king.

 

A small mature lady grabbed Judar’s hand, “oh Touka, you look so much like your Father, always be blessed his soul. You are also as beautiful as your mother.” Judar’s eyes widened at the mention of his parents.

 

Another woman next to her commented “I bet the person you like is impressed by your beauty,” the other aunt nodded.

 

“Whoah! Rin Rei is calling you over there aunties,” Judar grabbed the small lady’s shoulders and pushed her towards his cousin table, “see you!”

 

Against his better judgment, Hakuryuu asked. “What was that?”

 

“You know, old hags.” Judar flopped back in his seat.

 

“No, I mean what was that? Do you like _like_ someone?”

 

Judar blushed. “I- I most certainly not!”

 

The reply was hasty and Judar’s eyes drifted away, the prince knew how to read his magi, he was _lying_. Blatantly. Hakuryuu startled, could it be that Judar really liked someone in that way?

 

“Judar, you-” his eyes narrowed.

 

A man put a platter of smoked meat in front of them. “Good Emperor, my wife insisted in me bringing you the smoked pork they prepared in the morning.”

 

“Ah… Surely.”

 

Judar gleefully took a piece of the meat. “Oh, you have to try this, Hakuryuu, it’s soooo good!”

 

The prince scowled. Did Judar meet someone special in the village perhaps? He looked around, trying to see if someone was looking towards Judar’s way, and he followed the source of the magi’s attention when his eyes flicked elsewhere that wasn’t him.

 

A quick memory of Alibaba and Morgiana looking at each other’s eyes, confessing their love passed through his mind and he shook his head. No, not Judar, if he was in love with someone,  then he-

 

“Damn, you look scary. What is that face for? What were you thinking about? Gyokuen?

 

“I…” Hakuryuu frowned at his quick intrusive thoughts. What was the thing that bothered him? Being left alone again? Being the only one alone? Seeing Judar with someone?  Someone who made him happy in the real way where he failed? Judar being in love? Or Judar getting... married?

 

“Hakuryuu, you’re freaking me out, what the hell are you thinking about?”

 

“Yes, thinking of Gyokuen”

 

“Oh, makes sense, hey, don’t let her ruin this too, okay? I want you to focus on this ‘cause these people will treat you right.

 

Hakuryuu nodded. Trying to ease his emotions. He had come to the village to bring Judar back with him, but if the magi had formed a bond in that place that changed everything. He wondered if Judar he was going to be gone again when they finished their business. Or even worse, if he would bring that person with them, like lord Aladdin and his soon to be married friends.

 

Or get separated again.

 

He felt goosebumps at the memory of Judar’s tomb and rubbed his arm. Judar had always been so reliable, safe, protective. When he was taken away from him, all those feelings disappeared and he was again abruptly thrown to the unforgiving storm.

 

Hakuryuu knew he really was selfish, he could only see his own desires and his own goals. Judar had embraced them, never judging, always supportive and celebrating all his victories, no matter how small. Shaking his ground to be better, to always strive for more. And now that Judar could potentially look to someone else, he couldn’t fathom to let go.

 

Every time a maiden got near to fill Judar’s cup he would take the goblet himself and pour the drink, all the dishes were put in front of Judar by his hand, while the other was on the back the magician’s seat, zealously protecting.

 

Sometimes the magi would watch curiously the dancing crowd and Hakuryuu would tap impatiently his foot, others Judar would praise the food and Hakuryuu would make a comment on the culinary errors they had. He couldn’t believe he was misbehaving like a jilted lover would, he almost felt embarrassed by himself if there wasn’t a stronger feeling of threat that some nameless person could hold his magi’s attention.

 

Oblivious to the prince’s train of thought, Judar felt realized. He felt pampered, Hakuryuu was giving all his favor to him during the night, serving his drinks and handing him food? That was the real life of magi. He sighed happily, overtaken by the attentions accompanied by that aristocratic bearing, with flawless balance and noble manners.

 

And it was those times when he wanted Hakuryuu the most. In the past, it wasn’t hard to end up tangled with someone in the palace since everyone wanted a piece of him, they came without having to call them, he had never taken the bother to actually court someone so the natural thing to do was just cling - cling to be noticed. It worked… after like ten years but it worked. However, the step from friend to lover was unknown terrain and Judar didn’t know the first thing about relationships.

 

Venturing out into uncharted territories of relationships sparked the magi’s curiosity, even when Hakuryuu didn’t see him as a potential lover, he almost wanted to take the risk. But whatever he could get, he’d take, he was already fulfilled.

 

“I am so glad you came for me!” Judar smile brightened, it was one of those rare occasions where that smile was innocent and untainted, truly happy. Judar looked indeed beautiful, and Hakuryuu marveled at the sight.

 

But then the magi’s gesture changed. He had a confused expression, looking over the prince’s head.

 

“What the hell did you do to your rukh?”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“I don’t want to scare you but I think that falling and unfalling from depravity messed up your rukh, I’ve never seen that color.”

 

“What color?”

 

“It’s pink.”

 

Hakuryuu’s heart almost burst out of his chest. _No, it can’t be, not again._

 

“Oh! More of it is getting pink! What the..?!” Judar leaned forward.

 

“GAH! Stop looking at my rukh!” Hakuryuu pushed the magi away.

 

“Eeh?! But it’s strange!”

 

“I talked about it with Lord Aladdin, it’s normal, let it be!”

 

“I should listen to it, let me touch it! What if you’re getting sick? Are you gonna trust the twerp?”

 

“I told you not to touch it!”

 

Judar started to move his hand around him, trying to catch the luminous moth-like figures, chirping extremely nervous making a mess of pink on Hakuryuu’s head.

 

“I’m going to kill you!” Hakuryuu roared furiously batting his hands and slapping Judar’s away.

 

And so, the prince and the magi fought again, ending with their hands and arms red after all the whacks.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I am sick with dengue fever and writing is the only thing I can do besides wincing in pain X'D
> 
> At least something good came out of being housebound.


	4. A lost moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been super busy with a moving, I'm buying a house, I had an event of CrossFit, I have two jobs, but here I am!

Fate like a river flowed, and Hakuryuu’s rukh was driven within it.

 

Even when he was walking through the arguably righteous path, something inside of him felt different. He would never be the same, and no amount of white rukh could wash away his promise to break the fate and make a new place where he and his magi could fit in.

 

And even when the world and his relationship with people was doing better than before, Hakuryuu wanted to be able to rebel against it whenever he saw it fit. He wanted the choice. And he had had enough time to reflect on it, years to understand his place, his role in life and his purpose.

 

Those years of practice, meditation and discipline were meant to make him more confident the moment he was making choices, but they didn’t help in that moment of anxiety.

 

He had learned to accept and let go most of the things that bothered him, but it seemed to him that Judar was not included. He had been scared for two straight days, of everything, of watching Judar go, of waking up alone, of losing Judar again. And by then, he was adding another fear to the list: falling in love with Judar. Last time he tried to offer his heart he had been rejected. And all his bottled up insecurity was turning to panic. If he tried to become more than friends with Judar he could be rejected, _again_ , and that would turn his heart to a pulp; or he could lose Judar, _again_ , which was way worse, and he just couldn’t risk that.

 

All he could think is his foreboding fear as he stared at his happy magi, eating and drinking with his people, think of them becoming a couple and imagining the havoc that it would bring.

 

“-and then Hakuryuu beheaded the witch!”

 

Hakuryuu snapped out of his thoughts to find Judar on his feet,  gesturing dramatically like if his arm was a sword. Then, pleased with the demonstration and the gasps and cheers around him, Judar placed his hands on his hips, in a blatant display of pride.

 

“But that wasn’t all! The head shun with the brightest light and blew up the castle!”

 

Hakuryuu was amused by the silence of the people, watching their gaping faces, even when it was clear that Judar had told that story before.

 

“... it almost blew on Hakuryuu’s face. But I-” Judar hit his own chest with the closed fist, “-pushed Hakuryuu out of the isolation barrier and protected our emperor with my borg.”

 

The crowd cheered loudly and Hakuryuu joined them clapping his hands. He remembered that moment, they could have both easily died then and there if Judar hadn’t reacted quickly enough. Judar also could have saved himself quicker if only he had jumped out of the barrier on time. It was so unlike him to head face first towards deathly danger for someone's sake.

 

Hakuryuu started drifting off but was started by Judar’s voice.

 

“I’m so thirsty! Talking can be so tiring!” Judar flopped again on his chair.

 

“Only you would be tired by just talking.” In a matter of seconds, Hakuryuu was handing Judar a glass of water.

 

Judar could always do things for himself, but it was loads more fun when someone else did them for him.

 

Bonus points if that person was Hakuryuu.

 

The magi drank from his cup and saw Hakuryuu's empty cup, so he poured wine for his king and cooled it off with magic. He smiled at Hakuryuu when he handed the cup, and a smile was what he got back. He was enjoying the moment. Being served by Hakuryuu felt amazing... but... serving Hakuryuu felt-

 

“You’re getting red,” Hakuryuu scowled, looking around like an owl, looking for who knew what.  

 

“It’s warm up here.”  Judar sputtered.

 

Hakuryuu sent him a skeptical look. “Don’t move, I will get a fan.”

 

“O-kay?” Judar lifted a brow, confused by the growing acts of service Hakuryuu was giving. Not that he was complaining or anything, but even he had to admit it was getting strange.

 

Hakuryuu returned quicker than he thought with a fan on his hands, he started fanning both of them, with a slow cadence. The cooling breeze was indeed refreshing and Judar sighed happily and leaned on the arm Hakuryuu had over the back of his chair.

 

The Prince got even closer when he felt Judar on his arm. Not even Hakuei touched him often growing up. They were raised with the old ways, the refined polite manners in his speech were the same regarding personal space. He always was within a respectful distance from people, the distance made him long for human touch. Judar always gave it freely and often. Clinging to his side, stroking his hair, patting his shoulder. Four years had proved Hakuryuu that he longed for it. He wanted that touch and it made him seek more of it, so he started unconsciously leaning further towards Judar.

 

“You’re being really attentive with me today,” Judar observed sounding casual, acutely aware of how close they were.

 

Hakuryuu flushed slightly and moved back. “I-I thought that I should be appreciative that I found you quickly enough.”

 

The magi pursed his lips, somewhat finding the answer underwhelming. “And to think I considered at some point that you might discard me.”

 

“How could I, you’re the only person who never failed me, who never rejected me for who I am. The one that never disappointed me and I could trust. My partner.”

 

Those words were everything but underwhelming, Judar instantly beamed, “partner! I like that word!”

 

Hakuryuu wanted to hold his magi in that moment, that’s when he knew his feelings were spiraling down and out of control. He stood up quickly.

 

“I will be going to bed.” He announced mindlessly, “I am not used to these late parties anymore.”

 

“Let’s go to bed then.” Judar finished the contents of his glass and stood up next to him, that caused yet another malfunction in Hakuryuu’s head. _Go to bed_. Of course, they slept together.

 

“Fine.” When Hakuryuu turned around he saw many expectant faces, he immediately felt self-conscious. “I- I will be leaving to rest, please carry on. Thank you for inviting us to the festivities.”

 

They left the cheering crowd and headed towards the hill, Hakuryuu admired the flawless shine of the grass around. "This village has no sequels of the war, it’s like a droplet frozen in time of the period Kou had been peaceful.”

 

There was a time when the word ‘war’ would make Judar giddy with excitement, it didn’t have the same effect on him anymore, but he couldn’t deny the thought of fighting beside Hakuryuu had to be the vision of his perfect world. “I really wanted to fight beside you in a war.”

 

“I know.”

 

“I was looking forward to it.”

 

Judar stopped and looked at the distance. The moon had a shaky twin on the lake. The ripples on the water divided the reflected light. He sighed and resumed his thought. “The world was perfect and those guys blew it all off. I was so sure I could beat them up.”

 

“You got cocky.”

 

Judar frowned, Hakuryuu wasn’t wrong, but he didn’t like to look back to his mistakes, he knew he broke the branches to bet everything they had at his own expense.

 

“-but also did I. I should have made stronger microbes, I should have attacked as well, I let Lord Aladdin take you away from me.”

 

Hakuryuu felt guilty, Judar snorted, of course, he did. To him everything was his responsibility, including his magi. If it came from anyone else, he would think that he was being underestimated. But that was just Hakuryuu was, he did have trust in Judar’s abilities, but all the problems in the world should be on his back, otherwise, he wouldn’t be comfortable. Thinking about it was a real pain.

 

“I suffered the consequences,” Hakuryuu admitted with a very low voice.

 

Judar tore his eyes from the moon and fixed them on the prince. There was something else lingering there too, something powerful that he was trying to keep separated and hidden from his own thoughts. Hearing its whispers could mean losing control over them - his own rukh complained irritably at his failure to push the feeling that was tugging his heartstrings aside.

 

“So our actions did have consequences, what a surprise. Still, zero regrets, right?”

 

Hakuryuu laughed frankly, Judar’s unapologetic sass and his sardonic nature was welcomed back. He looked at those sparkling red eyes staring back and felt he could say anything. Maybe it was the perfect moment to talk about what he was feeling. He parted his lips to speak.

 

A loud whistle ran through the air and they both turned around to see an exploding ball of fireworks. The village couldn’t afford much gunpowder but they had three big fireworks.

 

“Kou’s fireworks are much more impressive,” Judar said.

 

“I find these more beautiful. They are only three and treated like treasures, your attention is to only one and not a big colorful show of many shooting stars.”

 

“Yeah, why not. Ahuuuuum!” Judar yawned, “let’s go to bed.”

 

Hakuryuu followed him exhaling melancholically, his moment was lost.

 

He could have said something when they were back in the intimacy of their bedroom, but Hakuryuu still felt a barrier of moral between him and his desires. And that was the reason why the prince started making a pillow barrier between them.

 

“This shall be enough for us to not invade each other’s spaces,” he muttered.

 

Judar looked at him, with a serious face, unreadable - if he hated Hakuryuu’s decision to avoid waking up being held by him or was relieved by it, he didn’t show it.

 

The magi cursed internally, of course, the night prior had been a one-time-only chance.

 

_I should have known._

 

He laid on his side, giving his back at Hakuryuu, he was sometimes so close he could touch him and yet so far away that he couldn’t say what he really was experiencing when they were close. It felt like a long distance when it came to explaining to his king what he wished for… what he wanted for them. But talk about it was even more difficult. It was less bothersome to become a remora and follow the prince around. Hoping that someway, somehow, someday, Hakuryuu would fall for him just by being used to see him so often.

 

When they were in the dark Hakuryuu could barely sleep, now hyper-aware of Judar’s breathing sounds.

 

By morning Judar woke up to an itch and an unexpected situation. Hakuryuu had crossed the barrier at night, half of his body was over the pillow fort and his arm was leisurely surrounding Judar’s torso. The magi had crossed it with his leg, which was placed over Hakuryuu’s waist. All the effort put in something that couldn’t keep them away.

 

“Pfffft!” Judar snorted covering his mouth as he chuckled silently.

 

_You're an idiot, Hakuryuu, you say you don't want us to invade each other’s spaces and you come to hold me at night. I am so invading your stupid space, you’ll see._

 

Hakuryuu stirred half an hour later, finding too, that he was in an intimate embrace with Judar again.

 

“I think your plan didn't work,” Judar said sleepily with his eyes closed.

 

“I can see that.”

 

“You hate it? Are you disgusted?”

 

“If I was disgusted I wouldn't wake up entangled with you.” Hakuryuu grumbled.

 

“You like it then?” Judar tried to keep his tone for sounding hopeful.

 

“It's … a friendly gesture, Lord Alibaba Lord Aladdin and Lady Morgana slept in the same room.”

 

“In the same bed?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Yuck.” Judar wasn’t entirely convinced that’s how it was supposed to work.

 

_Friendly gesture my ass._

 

He decided to press the subject further. “Did they woke up in each other's arms?”

 

Hakuryuu blushed furiously.

 

He took a moment to respond, “no.”

 

“I see. So this is different.”

 

 _Indeed it is different_. Hakuryuu thought with dismay, thinking that if only Judar knew what he was feeling, his life would never be the same.  

 

It hadn’t been the same for a long time. Some of the days the pain of having lost his magi made him wish they had never teamed up, other days when he was dragging up his feet, defeated, he could almost hear Judar’s encouraging words. He could almost conjure his ghost from the remnants of the fading memories of their time together. Other times he thought he could given almost anything to have him back.

 

And now, Judar was there in the flesh, wrapped by his arms and he didn’t want to be fretting over it as much as he was. He looked down to Judar’s closed eyes and pouty mouth.

 

_How would Judar’s kiss be like? How does he taste like?_

 

Something stirred deep within him, an ember that made his skin prickle, he had to get up or he would be sorry for his actions.

 

He started moving away when Judar complained childishly, “mmh don’t leave yet, I am comfortable in your arm.”

 

“Don’t be lazy, people will wonder why aren’t we out yet.”

 

“We were partying until late, I think they know full well that we’re tired. Many of them must be in bed too.”

 

“You're not tired, you just want an excuse to stay in bed. I’m going to have a bath, I hope you’re up when I come back. We are still not done here, I want to see the grain silos to see if they need more.”

 

“They have rice like for two years, Hakuryuu, I checked.”

 

“You might’ve miscounted, we should go see.”

 

“What!? We will go and I’ll show you who miscounts, jerk!”

 

Hakuryuu chuckled and exited the room to prepare the water.

 

Judar headed to the kitchen scratching his belly, the day was starting and he was already sorely missing his king’s embrace.

 

A part of him was panicking: _This is not good for me, it’s not good._

 

Another part of him was hopelessly charmed: _Yes, yes, good, good, so goddamn good._

 

When Hakuryuu returned, Judar left to have a bath himself. Then, they had breakfast with Hayashi and Rin Rei and headed afterward to the granaries, Hakuryuu opened up every wattle roof to check the consistency and health of the grains. Judar examined with him and two old farmers some samples of millet, rice, wheat, and barley. Hakuryuu loved to learn all the tedious data about the cultivated cereals, Judar just crunched them to see if they were edible or not.

 

After that, they walked back to the fields.

 

“I’ve been thinking it might be beneficial for the village if we planted mulberries.”

 

“Mulberries aren’t really that good, they’re kind of sour, they’re not too bad I guess-”

 

“Not for eating Judar, it will benefit the economy by giving the merchants something more luxurious to sell.”

 

“Mulberries are expensive?!” Judar gaped dramatically.

 

“Wh-? No,” Hakuryuu rubbed the bridge of his nose, “mulberries are the main source of food for silkworms, you get it? Plus, it is used to make paper and pigments. I saw some trees in the regions nearby while I was traveling. It shouldn’t be hard to plant some and then bring silkworms from Rakushou.”

 

“Oh! That’s a big idea! I knew we needed you here!” Judar jumped to hold Hakuryuu and the prince almost collapsed from embarrassment. When the magi noted what he was doing on an impulse he balked and let go almost instantly.

 

“We should go.” Hakuryuu blurted.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

They didn’t talk on their way back to the cabin.

 


	5. Face me

On their way back, crossing the bamboo forest, Judar wanted to show Hakuryuu the red pandas that lived nearby. They stopped by a stream that crossed through rocky ravines.

 

“Where are those fuckers? They’re always playing around here and the day I want to show you they’re not, I should cast a gust to find them.”

 

“You rely too much on your magic.”

 

“I know, that’s part of what got us here, right? I thought about it too. I found an old soldier that more or less taught me how to use my staff as a guandao, I think he didn’t like me much ‘cause I kept comparing your technique to his, but at least I know something.”

 

“Did you actually learn to fight? With your own arms?”

 

“How perceptive, Hakuryuu! It’s almost as if I just said so!”

 

Hakuryuu was going to slap the magi’s head for that remark but Judar’s borg activated and his hand hit a solid barrier. “We both know you would not be of much use inside an isolation barrier. Why don’t you show me how you strike?”

 

“Right now?”

 

“Yes, now. Unless you are actually bluffing and you know nothing of how a guandao works.”

 

“Of course I know! I watched your training for years!”

 

“All I remember is you lazying around on the roofs and the trees where I was.”

 

“Well duh, how else would I see you? You didn’t even talk to me sometimes!”

 

The phrase got a whole different meaning at that moment when Hakuryuu looked back at those times, “why would you want to see me?”

 

Judar sputtered, “pfft, because I wanted you to conquer a dungeon with me of course! Why else?”

 

“Of course, why else…” Hakuryuu didn’t really want to sulk in front of Judar, so he changed the subject, “Then you really must know how to strike. Show me.”

 

The magi puffed out his chest, feeling he had worked enough to at least make a simple strike. He widened his stance, lowered his hips and grasped his staff near the head with the shaft pointing slightly up, he was about to thrust when he felt the prince’s presence behind him.

 

Hakuryuu pushed gently one of Judar’s feet with his own to make him open his legs further, “lower your body a bit, it might seem insignificant but in a real fight it could make the difference between grazing your enemy superficially or impaling them.” Hakuryuu didn’t think about the closeness, he was focused on teaching Judar the right stance. They couldn’t afford more mistakes on their part from then on.

 

Judar’s hip lowered a little, he watched Hakuryuu out the corner of his eye, who was slowly moving the staff downward. Judar was frozen with shock when he felt Hakuryuu’s scarred cheek close to his, his pale eye looking at the staff’s objective.

 

“Show me your target,” Hakuryuu said.

 

“W-well, you didn’t tell me I had to have one but… That bamboo, the fat one.” Judar pointed at it.

 

Hakuryuu’s hand was suddenly on his back and Judar shivered, the prince guided the magician, walking towards the selected bamboo. When they were close enough to actually hit it, the prince stopped. Then he pushed Judar’s hand up, gently grabbed the forearm and aimed the hand to form a better posture. Then he gently touched Judar’s side to straighten his spine, Hakuryuu’s touch beneath Judar’s rib lingered and then the tips of his fingers ran gently down to his waist.

 

Judar inhaled soundly, trying to be less bothered by a simple, absent-minded and stupid touch.

 

At that moment Hakuryuu was also snapped out of his focus by the pleasurable feeling of Judar’s skin brushing his finger pads. It was like the finest silk, as smooth as warm marble, it was tactile poetry. When he spoke next, he was breathless.

 

“It’s a good thing you’re ambidextrous, you can do this from both sides. Now strike.”

 

It took the magi a moment to steady himself. He didn’t want to give a shitty little thrust that would make Hakuryuu mock him forever. Judar’s thrust crushed the bamboo stick at the middle.

 

“HAH!” Judar yelled triumphantly. And he turned to see Hakuryuu’s face. The prince seemed pleased, he seemed _proud_.

 

“Very impressive,” Hakuryuu smiled.

 

Judar was startled. He wanted to kiss Hakuryuu. Judar wondered if he would get angry. Would it matter much? _Yes if he gets upset for real._

 

“I have a better idea that does not involve defeating bamboo sticks,” the prince said looking around.

 

“Are we going to repeat this?” _No complaints, none at all._

 

“There’s a glade over there, let’s go.” Hakuryuu ran to it as if he was excited by his own idea. Then he swung his guandao and sliced three bamboo sticks. Dividing the bamboo into three separate sticks, he grabbed the leafless sticks in the middle and threw one to Judar. “Fight me, Judar.”

 

“What?! That’s your idea? I know how to hit something but you have like twelve years of practice more than me.”

 

“I’m not asking you to win… Are you scared of facing me without magic, lord priest?”

 

“Only for that, I am going to leave a red line on your face, my king,” Judar growled.

 

Hakuryuu had that playful smirk Judar so often dreamt of, the prince passed the pole from one hand to the other, swinging it, twirling it and showing off his dexterity.

 

The prince commanded attention with the way he carried himself alone, he was all masculine grace and perfect balance. His charisma wasn’t overwhelming like Kouen’s or Sinbad’s, Hakuryuu only had a subtle gravity, covered in a shroud of mystery. It was tranquil and secretive and combined with his whipcord-like lean build, it was enough to make Judar want him even more than he ever wanted anyone.

 

Judar followed the prince, who went to the edge of the bamboo forest glade. His eyes fixed on Hakuryuu, his feet moved effortlessly on the short grass, his strides were firm, as his grip on his weapon, the muscles in his forearm were tense like bowstrings, taut by the rigorous training of his art.

 

Two could play that peacock game, Judar strutted with his usual provocative gait, his long braid swaying with the hypnotic movement of his shoulders. He walked with his chin raised, challenging his king, mirroring every step. Their eyes were locked, daring each other. They circled one another slowly, like two prowling tigers, focused on nothing else but each other.

 

The magi made a villainous grin and beckoned the prince to come closer with his index finger. Hakuryuu answered to his magi’s summon as metal responds to the pull of a magnet. Each step was calculated and confident. His long and powerful legs didn’t need much movement to quickly reach his opponent.

 

The impact was hard but Judar resisted. he blocked the prince’s unyielding attacks one by one, Judar swung efficaciously the stick to hit - as he promised - the prince’s face. Hakuryuu moved back and whirled, pivoting on his heel. The inertia helped to deflect the trajectory of Judar’s bamboo stick and both poles crossed, pushing against each other in opposite directions, their shoulders were pushing against each other and their brows pressed together; Hakuryuu felt Judar’s breath meld with his.

 

Different styles were clashing, chaos and tempest against discipline and fortitude. Judar broke their stalemate and moved forward to change the angle and hit again. And every time he struck, Hakuryuu was already there waiting for him. At every turn and blow, Hakuryuu’s feet or arms moved in a way which forced Judar to improve his stance. The prince was teaching him while parrying and attacking him. Hakuryuu had a second stick in his left hand. He used it to push and move Judar’s legs to improve Judar’s posture.

 

Judar advanced confidently; he felt he could do the most challenging techniques as long as his king was guiding and encouraging him every step of his way. Hakuryuu had the intuitive ability to anticipate Judar, and work in precise parallel vigor to him, and also the grit to keep pushing him to his limits and beyond.

 

Hakuryuu relished his partner’s fiery and rapacious nature. Even after all this time, he kept on being fearless and spirited, nothing was ever too challenging, nothing  was ever too overwhelming, he was a living ice storm ready to devour everything that crossed his way. So Hakuryuu continued his relentless pursuit-and-defense coaching, as Judar fought fluidly under his undivided attention. They moved in tandem with exceptional synergy and harmony. There were no words, there was no need for any; Judar understood the prince's lessons from their deep connection just as much as Hakuryuu could read Judar's mood with one swing.

 

_I want more, I want everything, Hakuryuu._

 

Hakuryuu could never deny what Judar demanded of him.

 

It was a combat, but it also was a dance, a dialogue, and courtship all in one.

 

Like everything, it couldn’t last forever. Judar’s speed decreased slowly, and with it, Hakuryuu’s, it wasn’t like if Hakuryuu couldn’t keep fighting for another hour, but he matched his partner, controlling the other’s movements, slowing them to a halt.

 

Judar was catching his breath - he still was too close to Hakuryuu. Their chests were almost touching with the movement of their breathing. Judar thought that it was like watching in an inverse mirror. Hakuryuu was a man who earnestly, frantically pursued his beliefs. No matter if they were good or bad, what other people thought about them - a man that endured against tidal waves, not content to settle for mediocrity or the ordinary; who rejected all that the people he grew up with expected of him. He was like no other man Judar knew. Judar truly wanted to crown him as king of the world.

 

“Once you have the perfect teacher this is not that hard.”

 

“I am glad you find me a good teacher”

 

“You always downplay what I say on purpose, I said _perfect_ , as much as you are the perfect king.”

 

“I don't deserve to be a king,” Hakuryuu said awkwardly.

 

“You won that war, and you had what’s called ‘the king’s determination’ to spare. You deserve to be _the_ king,” Judar frowned.

 

“A pyrrhic victory is what it was, nothing more,” Hakuryuu mirrored Judar’s expression.

 

“A victory is a victory.”

 

“In the end, I am not leader material.  Maybe in another time, we would have lost.”

 

Judar shrugged “The end doesn’t matter much to me, I wouldn’t care about winning or losing as long as we could rampage together on the warpath.”

 

“What if we died?”

 

“Then we’d go down as one.”

 

“Killing everyone or dying together is something we strived for, but I have a better goal to suggest you for us to pursue from now on,” Hakuryuu tapped his temple, pensive, he wanted to see Judar smile, just like he had in his hometown, for the rest of his days. His partner, who had gone on to tied his strength to his own, who had fought with him and for him, as they struggled to taste freedom - he deserved nothing less.

 

“What is it?” Judar’s frown deepened.

 

“Repay everyone and just _be_ together, no matter how.”

 

Judar stayed silent as Hakuryuu took their belongings.

 

“We need to get back, the sun won’t be up in the sky for much longer.” Hakuryuu placed a reassuring hand on Judar’s shoulder; the magi followed.

 

Back in the town, many people crossed their path and they had short conversations with them, others greeted them. When they got to the cabin their dinner was ready on the table. After they finished their share they went to bed, Hakuryuu kept trying to engage Judar in conversation but Judar gave short answers - he was still submerged in his thoughts. Thoughts about everything they believed in, Hakuryuu’s resolve to make amends with the world and thinking about how they could be together. His mind then drifted off to other ways they could be and fit together.

 

Hakuryuu had accepted him on Judar’s terms, seen him at his best and at his worst, even sides of him no one ever knew existed. He trusted his king wholly and implicitly. He had known him for long, and they knew at that moment where they stood in each other’s’ lives. They were magi and king, they were partners. It was more than enough. Wasn’t it? Judar was not sure anymore.

 

He had always kept his hands to himself, trying to not scare the prince away with his too-friendly behavior. But it was getting harder every day while he was in Hakuryuu's arms. He wanted the prince’s partnership, his friendship, and trust, but he also wanted his care - he wanted his devotion, he wanted his passion, he wanted his body, everything he could take, he wanted it.

 

Before Hakuryuu’s fall into depravity, Judar could perhaps have taken another king, another partner or another lover, but after Belial’s dungeon - watching Hakuryuu’s resolve, the beauty of his fall and his promise to follow his lead - all of those had to be Hakuryuu or no one. Judar wouldn’t accept otherwise, _couldn’t_.

 

Remembering sparring so close to Hakuryuu, feeling his feather-light touches and his warm breath made Judar dizzy – he couldn't concentrate on Hakuryuu's words any longer.

 

The prince placed his hand on Judar’s chest, this time without Judar’s help, he felt Judar’s heart racing. “Are you okay?”

 

“It’s too hot, I have to take a bath.”

 

Hakuryuu’s hand pressed further to feel Judar’s heart’s thumping, “You took a bath this morning.”

 

“I know, but a cold one, at the lake. I’ll be back later.”

 

“I’ll come with you. I-I- I- will look to the other way, of course! It’s not like I’m implying that- me watching- or we b- bathing..!” Hakuryuu was muttering so quietly and quickly Judar didn’t understand a thing.”

 

“What are you blabbering about?”

 

“I was saying that I could come with you to the lake and stay…. Nearby. I could meditate under a tree.”

 

“Naw, it's okay I'll go by myself.”

 

“What? Why?”

 

“‘Cause it’s late and you were already falling asleep. Just stay here, I will be back later.”

 

“But-”

 

Judar didn’t wait for the reply, he hurried outside, not even bothering to put his top on again.

 

Hakuryuu chewed on his finger. Perhaps Judar was still angry about his destiny and he didn’t want to abandon his hatred; maybe he loved war too much. Or maybe Judar misunderstood what he said that afternoon. _Maybe it sounded as if I was suggesting that we could be together as something more? What about Judar’s feelings?_ _He likes someone, right?_

 

That was the last thing he wanted to think about, Hakuryuu stayed still on the bed. Maybe Judar wanted some space, but there was just one tiny thing that was bugging Hakuryuu. _I just reunited with Judar again after four years and he wants to have_ more _space?_ _No, it won’t do. It’s unacceptable._ “No, no, no, I can’t be separated again, I won’t intrude, just stay close.” Hakuryuu went outside. He saw Judar floating towards his destination, it was a good thing that it wasn’t too far away; only in a more isolated area. There wasn’t a single soul around and Hakuryuu thought that was the reason Judar chose to bathe there.

 

Judar landed in a dark spot he used sometimes to think and be by himself. He used to watch the stars there and wonder what Hakuryuu was doing. But it was also private enough to explore his own body. During all that time he was on the dark continent, it was difficult to jack off - the haniwa doll was always around, and when he was alone horrible monsters appeared. That, and the fact that he was on a dragon’s back for two years. He had to be creative with how and when he did it. So when he was finally free, he returned to his deeds with himself. His body had been neglected in the days where it needed pleasure the most. Having the prince in his bed, in his arms was too much for his self-control. Hakuryuu wouldn’t touch him the way he wanted him to, but no matter, he had his imagination for that. He leaned back, settling himself between two smooth rocks and caressed the spot where Hakuryuu’s hand had settled just moments ago.

 

Then he imagined Hakuryuu patting the bed next to him to know Judar was still there, and patting the wrong place instead. Or more like the right place. The best place Hakuryuu could be touching. Even if one of those hands was once Kouen’s, it was connected to Hakuryuu’s warm magoi, to his tempting taut body, and to his dangerous smirk.

 

Then the prince would be surprised and embarrassed, but then his instincts would take over and it wouldn’t matter anymore they were not supposed to want each other. Hakuryuu would then touch him more, just the way he touched his side that afternoon, he would take his time to learn Judar and they would move in synch just like during their sparring session, Hakuryuu would know where and how to touch and he would take Judar between his own joyous moans.

A few minutes had passed - his hand moved down his body and reached his hip. Judar pulled his pants down to his knees with his eyes closed.. His palm gently cradled his need, the other traced lazily his lower abdomen.

 

_One icy eye, one blue. Pink scar. Mole on his chin. Hair the color of the deep sea. Hakuryuu._

 

Try as he might, Judar wasn’t the silent type.

 

The prince was dashing through the grass; he was a seasoned traveler, it wasn’t hard to be stealthy. Judar would probably be upset if he knew he was close, but he didn’t have to know. He was just waiting, is what Hakuryuu told himself. He stayed near where Judar had disappeared, pacing the area.

 

There was a sound coming from the rocks above, a groan. For a second Hakuryuu thought probably it was something stupid like the magi stubbing his toe on a rock or something or something similar. The next sound turned Hakuryuu’s blood to ice. Another moan, this time sounding more pleased than the last one.

 

 _Is he… having..? Is he with someone? Who is it? One of the women we met in town?_ Hakuryuu didn’t want to know… He walked around the rocks Judar was behind. He really didn’t want to know, but he _needed_ to know.

 

Every step Hakuryuu took closer to the place he heard Judar's voice from, he scolded himself even more. _Why would you do this? He has the right to be with anyone he likes. This is private. This is wrong. This is wrong._ In other circumstances, he would have been dutiful enough to resist, but his anguish had grown too big to be ignored.

 

He ended up with his back against a tree. He would only quickly lean forward and look, and that would be it. He felt his stomach turn at the hard panting he was hearing, his sweat felt cold against his forehead. It was too late to turn back.

 

The time his gaze took to travel from the tree trunk to the rocks felt like an eternity. He was not prepared for what he saw next.

 

Judar was _alone_ , shining like a spirit; his pearly body was bathed in the moonlight, contrasting with his inky black hair; head lolled back, exposing the enticing column of his neck, fingers tracing the sharp masculine lines of his chest, while the others fluttered up and down his shaft.

 

To say the sight was arousing was an understatement. Judar worked himself hard, while he skillfully stroked his erogenous zones groaning sweetly to the wind, whispering secrets that didn’t reach Hakuryuu’s ears and the magi was too embarrassed to say out loud.

 

“We’re perfect for each other. I missed you, I need you.”

 

Judar felt something in the distance, chirping of rukh that he didn’t quite register in the haze of pleasure. He didn’t want to come out of his daydream because, in it, his legs were around Hakuryuu’s thighs and his king was calling his name, wanting to please and be pleased, aching to fill his magi.

 

The prince’s eyes followed Judar’s fingers to his mouth where they were wetted by his tongue - then they moved south. Hakuryuu was slack-jawed when he saw those fingers entering Judar, and then, Judar’s back was arching while he cried out and unfurled like a beautiful wildflower.

 

Hakuryuu’s mind was far away, a fantastic place where he was a mere spectator - a spy inside a dungeon with hidden treasure, waiting to be conquered.

 

Inside Judar the heat was building up, and he felt himself reaching his peak - yes, he would make amends with the goddamn world, yes, he would follow his king to the end of it, yes, destiny was good, because Hakuryuu made all the difference. With that thought, he was throbbing and climaxing, his tongue danced out of his open mouth when he came.

 

“Ha- Ah! Ha- Hak- Ah!”

 

There was absolute bliss in Judar’s post-orgasmic smile when he laid back in the stone, as soon as the bewitching body of the magi stopped trembling, he slid slowly in the water of the lake and the prince felt he couldn’t be there any longer, he quickly turned around and sprinted, but his running back was awkward and embarrassing. Hakuryuu bit the inside of his lips, he could barely walk with the discomfort caused by his hardness. He couldn't recall a time before when he had been so turned on. His balls ached, they felt swollen, heavy and as if they were filled with live wires. He knew he needed release, even if he didn’t want to. His body needed release, _soon_.

 

He sat on the bed reprimanding himself, it was not right to peep on Judar and it was not right to jerk off to his friend. But his crotch didn’t seem to agree with him nor get the command. The intrusive memory of Judar’s body under the moonlight was burned into his eyelids even when he closed his eyes, making him imagine instantly what it would be like if he was touching Judar instead. What would it feel like to press his body against the soft silk of Judar’s skin? How would it be if it were Hakuryuu’s hands marking him instead? How would it feel to stretch Judar further than just two fingers wide?

 

Hakuryuu was sorely regretting having a life of tight self-control. He obviously had healthy boners – four times a day, which was quite modest – but he didn’t indulge as much in self-satisfaction as he knew he should. He gently stroked his bulge and decided he had to do the deed as quickly as possible. It wasn't difficult, the image of Judar’s skin glistening and his moans had Hakuryuu on edge. The fact that Judar’s scent lingered in the sheets also helped. He slid his hand beneath his undergarments and stroked himself needily.

 

_Judar… I want you to think of me and me alone._

 

The magi’s orgasmic expression replayed in his brain until Hakuryuu was twitching in his own hand.

 

“F-fuck…”

 

Hakuryuu looked at his wet palm and cussed. _I am so messed up, this is wrong. Everything is wrong. This is disrespectful_.

 

He cleaned himself and laid on the bed again, gravely regretting having followed his partner. The whole experience did nothing but make him feel more embarrassed. And feeling like he was crushing badly, even more so than before, the sight of Judar’s smile of satisfaction was seared into his mind and it would stay that way.

 

Only a few minutes passed and he heard the door opening and then Judar’s slow steps. The magi laid back on the bed, and Hakuryuu held his breath, feeling the sensuous weight of Judar’s body sinking into the bedding.

 

The prince shut his eyes tightly and laid on his side with his face near the wall. he didn’t want to face Judar, not after what he did. If Judar knew, everything would change. He was traumatized by women and he didn’t want to be traumatized by men as well.

 

Judar was flabbergasted by the excessive, unintelligible chirping of Hakuryuu’s rukh, Judar whispered, “holy shit, your rukh is restless today.”

 

“Go to sleep Judar, I’m tired.”

 

It was hard to come back from fantasy to reality, from a world where Hakuryuu adored him to one where Judar could only see his back. “Okay… Good night Hakuryuu.” The magi got slightly closer regardless, they weren’t touching but at least they could share warmth.

 

“Good night Judar.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to VilePriestess for being a sweetheart for being a great beta and fix my horrible grammar.


End file.
